Fri Mar 14 17:14:46 2008

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Rain cancels Cup qualifying at Bristol

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Bristol, TN (Sports Network) - Showers arrived at about 1:30 p.m., and never left, forcing the cancellation of Sprint Cup qualifying at the famed Bristol Motor Speedway. By rule, the Sprint Cup starting grid for Sunday's Food City 500 will be set by 2007 owner points. Beginning next week any rain out will use 2008 owner points.

Hendrick Motorsport No.48 Chevrolet driver Jimmie Johnson will start on the pole with teammate Jeff Gordon on the outside of the first row.

Clint Bowyer and Matt Kenseth will start in row two.

Other drivers of note and their starting positions: Casey Mears (5th), Tony Stewart (6th), Jeff Burton (8th), Carl Edwards (9th), Kevin Harvick (10th), Dale Earnhardt Jr. (15th) and points leader Kyle Busch (22nd).

After four races on high-speed tracks, the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series returns to its roots at the historic Bristol Motor Speedway short track. It is likely to be another knock-down-drag-out fight with bent sheetmetal galore and frustrated and angry drivers.

Right now, the hottest driver in NASCAR is Busch. In his first year with Joe Gibbs Racing and Toyota, Busch is putting on quite a display.

The No.18 JGR Toyota leads the Sprint Cup Series by 73 points. At Daytona he and teammate Stewart were the dominant cars on the track leading 102 of 200 laps. Busch led 86 of those and after the final pit stop was ninth on the restart. He charged through the field and was fourth with eight laps to go. Busch was second with three laps to go, but when Stewart dropped to the bottom of the track to team with the No.18, it opened a lane for Ryan Newman and Kurt Busch to charge around the outside for the win.

Kyle Busch was also a dominant force in Las Vegas, winning the pole and leading 56 laps before finishing 11th. Add in the fact that he is third in the Nationwide Series and leads the Craftsman Truck Series and you have a driver that is currently the best on the track.

We will see if the domination continues on a short track this week.

The weather forecast doesn't look good for Saturday's Nationwide Series race, but Sunday's weather looks good to go for the Sprint Cup Series. The green flag is scheduled to drop at 2 p.m. (et) on Sunday.